WASHINGTON, D.C. – First Lady Kathryn Burgum will share her story of addiction and recovery and her mission to eliminate the stigma surrounding addiction as she kicks off an opioid panel tomorrow at the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Public Sector Summit in Washington, D.C.

The session, titled “Battling the Opioid Crisis with Help from the Cloud,” will reconvene founding members of the AWS Opioid Crisis Council, as well as new members and supporters, to discuss how AWS has been teaming up with governments and technology partners to collaboratively address the opioid crisis since its declaration as a national public health emergency in 2017.

“I am honored to engage in dialogue over how leaders in government and technology can work together to eliminate the stigma surrounding addiction and empower recovery in communities and the workplace,” First Lady Burgum said. “We have an incredible opportunity to harness the power of technology to drive solutions for those struggling with this disease and remove the shame and barriers to care in the process.”

A panel of public sector customers will share details on how they have implemented cloud-based solutions across agencies in multiple levels of government to securely ingest, analyze and distribute citizen data in support of programs designed to address substance abuse and behavioral health in their communities. Panelists include Dorman Bazzell, chief data officer for the State of North Dakota; Mike Fried, chief information officer for the Baltimore City Health Department; Carlos Rivero, chief data officer for the State of Virginia; Kristopher Shera, state opioid response director for the Washington Health Care Authority; and Marisa Barbieri, founder of 1 Life Project/Competitive Solutions.